Q&A

Latest Update : May 21, 2015

Back to Financial Results (FY3/2015)

Investor Meeting Presentation for FY 3/2015 held on May 8, 2015

* Some parts have been added and modified for a clearer understanding.

Question

Question and Answer

These are approximate figures, but of the roughly 100 billion yen increase in Electronic Devices, the new assembled part is about 50 billion yen and the contribution from the growth in the existing LED backlight business is about 50 billion yen. There isn't much added value in the assembled part.
We're confident that Minebea's assembled part uses more efficient automation equipment for assembly than anybody else. Whether this will spread to other smartphone manufacturers is not clear at this point. Unfortunately we have a confidentiality agreement, so all we can say is that this manufacturing and assembly is a request from a specific customer.
The revenues from the smartphone-related assembly business kick in from June onwards. The peak will be in the third quarter, at which point the Electronic Device and Components revenues will surge, but it's the low value-added sales that will increase, so we're not expecting operating income in the second half to grow as rapidly as it did last fiscal year. Sales for the existing LED backlight operations have been quiet in the April to June quarter, but we're manufacturing more than last year. We're assuming that sales will describe the same sort of growth curve this year as they did last year, so we expect this to be a major contributor to the increase in operating income in the second half just as it was last year. Also, we expect the synergies from Sartorius Mechatronics T&H GmbH and others to start coming through little by little in the latter half of the year, which is why we forecast operating income to be higher in the second half than in the first.
It's true that we set a target of average external shipments of 180 million units per month. However, while we should soon see external shipments of 160 million units on a single-month basis, we assume that the sales volumes of HDD pivot assemblies, which are the main driver of internal shipments, will decline gradually. That is to say, whether or not that means we will immediately be at full capacity when we hit an average of 180 million in external monthly shipments is something we will consider over the next three years while in the meantime we get on with the construction plan of the new ball bearing factory without delay. Our thinking is that we need to get a grasp on this trend by the end of this year.
That's what we believe.
That is correct.
There's no doubt that it will be outside Thailand. It's 99% certain that we will not be increasing ball bearing capacity in Thailand.
The land for our most recent ball bearing factory had already been purchased, but in the end we will have spent about 35 billion yen on that facility with full capacity. If the next factory we build is similar in scale, we think it will require a similar investment.
This is quite a challenge, but we would like to reduce our costs and actively take market share. Our view is that many of our competitors are US companies with cost structures that are definitely higher than ours, in addition to which we have the geographical advantage. Looking at the other machined component businesses, this is about the only area where the competitors are US companies and where we are, perhaps not actually losing, but fighting on no better than equal terms. We want to fundamentally rethink our approach and then aggressively take share.
We expect a meaningful contribution from July onwards. The April to June quarter will continue to include production for the previous models, but there will be almost nothing for the new models.
No they are not. They are in the fourth item, "Significant increase in LED backlights".
Yes, something like that.
At this stage there is no such issue whatsoever. The production line is operated by ourselves in consultation with the customer, and there has been no problem of the kind you describe. As for what might happen going forward, I think that is a discussion for the future.
I cannot give details, but the customer and ourselves will decide on the price setting method.
No, there is not.
Unless there is some kind of exceptional event we should be all right.
Of course, until we try we won't know, but I think that the guidance of 12 billion yen for the first quarter of this fiscal year is somewhat conservative.

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